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Encouraged by a pair of convincing exhibition victories last weekend, a very young Colorado College squad officially faces off its 2010-11 season at home this Friday in the opener of a two-game non-conference series against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Faceoff at the World Arena (7,380 seating capacity) is 7:37 p.m. MT, with Saturday's game scheduled to start half an hour earlier at 7:07 p.m.

RPI is No. 13 and the Tigers No. 21 in Inside College Hockey's initial power rankings of the season. CC, which has not suffered a losing season since 1992-93, also is No. 20 in this week's national poll published by U.S. College Hockey Online and CBS College Sports.

The visiting Engineers are members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League. They finished 18-17-5 overall and 10-9-3 in ECACHL play last season.

Of the 26 players on Colorado College's roster, eight are freshmen and eight more are sophomores. One of the newcomers – forward Jaden Schwartz – recently was named Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year after being picked by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2010 NHL draft. Schwartz led all Tigers with four points (2g,2a) combined in last weekend's exhibition triumphs over the University of Lethbridge (5-1) and the United State Under-18 Team (7-1).